Carlos Miller is founder and publisher of Photography is Not a Crime, which began as a one-man blog in 2007 to document his trial after he was arrested for photographing police during a journalistic assignment.
He is also the author of The Citizen Journalist's Photography Handbook, which can be purchased through Amazon.

Indianapolis "Officer of the Year" Caught on Camera Lying About Arrest

August 2, 2013

388 Views

Only months after receiving an “Officer of the Year” award, Indianapolis police officer T. Michael Wilson was exposed as a lying bully by a hotel surveillance camera.

The 16-second clip shows Wilson standing in a hotel lobby conversing with a group of men, including 60-year-old Brian Hudkins, who was standing with his hands behind his back, when the cop suddenly grabs him by his shirt and throws him to the floor before handcuffing him.

Another surveillance camera outside the hotel shows Wilson throwing the handcuffed man down to the pavement, even though Hudkins was not showing any signs of resisting.

I-Team 8 compared the police report filed that night to the video. Officer T. Michael Wilson writes that he gave Hudkins a warning to lower his voice. He wrote that Hudkins “replied that he did not have to, while sticking his finger in my face.” But the video clearly shows Hudkins’ hands are moved behind his back.

Officer Wilson writes he “attempted to push Mr. Hudkins backwards and away from the situation” but Hudkins was able to “forcibly push backwards.” The video shows Hudkins thrown to the ground.

WISH-TV showed the clip to Indianapolis Police Chief Rick Hite and two internal affairs investigators who were unable to see what the rest of us see.

In fact, Hite claimed he had never seen the video, even though it had been sent to the police department five months earlier, which is a very typical response from chiefs and police spokespersons when asked to comment on such videos.

But Hite assured he will conduct a thorough investigation as to why Wilson’s police report differ from what was captured on video (another typical response).

“I’m not denying what we saw or what we seen but we have a policy and process in which we adjudicate each and every investigation,” Hite said.

When asked if it looked like excessive force was used, Hite said, “It looks like force was used.”

Hite said his department would have to go further than simply looking at the video.

“We’ll have to get to the bottom of why it was used, under what condition it was used, was there a verbal exchange,” Hite said. “I want to hear all of that. But I certainly can’t be judged by or ask us to be judged by what we merely see.”

Hite told I-Team 8 he would pursue an “immediate review” after seeing the video.

“Absent of any additional information at this point, you have forced me to now request every piece of paper, every document related to this case for immediate review by internal affairs,” he said.

The incident took place last September when Hudkins and an employee were in town for a convention, checking into a JW Marriott. Later that night after dinner, the employee, Andrew Davis, walked up to his room, but was unable to unlock the door. He also heard voices inside, so he contacted Hudkins and the two men walked back down to the lobby to clear things up.

The hotel, which later revealed it had overbooked, apparently wasn’t doing a good job on remedying the situation, so Hudkins called police.

This, I should remind people, should be the last resort in any dispute.

Davis, who was also arrested, returned to the hotel after being released from jail to find his personal items had gone missing.

He has filed a lawsuit.

The suit spells out that Andrew Davis, an employee of Brian Hudkins, told a hotel employee “he believed someone had broken into his room.” It goes on to say Davis was never in the room he stated, and the hotel staff gave him a different room number. But Davis didn’t find any of his items in the room. The suit later says, “The hotel staff then admitted they had lost his belongings…and the hotel had made a mistake and overbooked.”

After getting out of jail, Davis said the hotel couldn’t immediately find his belongings, and when they did, clothes were missing. Finally, the items were found in a third room, apparently already rented out, hanging in the closet. Davis said his laptop was damaged and two credit cards were missing. The lawsuit said this all happened because another guest requested a king bed. Davis had reserved two doubles and they moved him without notification.